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Historic victory for the Swedish dock workers!

Wednesday 6 March 2019

On 6 March, the small and independent Swedish Dockworkers Union were planning to take all out strike action in response to the very aggressive anti union strategy of the Swedish harbour employers organisation. The dockworkers have been up against, not only the employers, but also the neoliberally oriented social democratic government, the majority of the big media and the majority unions hoping to get full monopoly on the labour market.

The dockworkers union with its militancy and model of internal democracy is posing a clear alternative to the bureaucratised ways of operating of the major unions. They are subjected to smear campaigns and vilification on a regular basis, and the upcoming strike was expected to be a bitter one, a fight against all odds.

But at the last minute the strike was called off and the dock workers union reported that they now have reached a general agreement for the first time in their 47 year long history!

The harbour conflict has been used as the sole motivation for a new law severely restrikting the right to strike for smaller unions. Hopefully the victory of the dock workers will now be used to stop this law proposal.